Epilogue
ELI
Five years later
“Merry Christmas and happy holidays!” I call out to my last customer for the week.
The holidays always put me in a good mood, and I’m extra joyous this season since it’s my first one as a business owner.
During my last semester of school, I spent a lot of time helping out at Sweet Buns, mostly as a stress reliever. It also helps that Caleb is a super nice guy and never complained about me being there. He was also quick to teach me new baking techniques or recipes.
On one of the really bad days of looking at boring job applications, I complained to Caleb about dreading finding a desk job, and he offered me a junior baker position at his bakery.
Sweets Buns had grown a lot from when he first took over the business, so he’d been thinking about hiring another baker for a while by then.
The world must have heard me complaining and dropped this job in my lap. Naturally, I accepted and started working part time in between my classes. I started there full-time right after my graduation.
I wasn’t the only one to get a job I never expected.
Nathan did some soul-searching as well and decided a shift of careers was in order.
His company’s HR department had an opening, and although he didn’t have any experience in that area, his company still approved his transfer, since they preferred to train someone internally rather than hire out.
He’s been in his current position for a few years now and is thriving. Working in HR still utilizes his social skills, but best of all, he actually enjoys it, and there’s barely any overtime.
As for me…I worked for Caleb for about four years before taking the plunge of opening a store of my own. I learned I love working with my hands, but bread isn’t really where my heart lies. I do love everything Caleb makes, but I love my sweets more.
So, after many nights of researching permits and being a business owner, and tons of help from Nathan, my friends, and my family, Sweet Moments was created. It’s my own personal candy shop heaven.
My shop is super small—because rental prices are crazy in the city—but it’s all mine. I didn’t think I could be living my dream working a job, but here I am, making candy and serving kids’ dreams.
I’m humming as I finish the last of the cleanup before I close the shop for the rest of the week.
“Are you part of the menu? Because I think you’re the sweetest thing here.”
I turn around to find Nathan behind me and roll my eyes at his cheesy line. His coworker has been supplying him with endless candy-related pickup lines after finding out I opened a candy store.
“Hi, baby,” he says and comes to give me a kiss that, even after five years, still makes my toes curl. “Ready for our family getaway?”
“More than ready,” I say, hugging him and breathing in his familiar spicy scent. Besides the sweets I now live and breathe, it’s my favorite scent in the world.
“Let’s finish closing up and get on the road.”
With the two of us, we’re quick to finish the cleaning. I turn off the lights and lock up before hopping into Nathan’s car.
Five years later, and I still don’t know how to drive. Since I now live with Nathan in his apartment in the city, I can easily take public transportation. And to the places I can’t get to without a car, I have my wonderful, amazing boyfriend to drive me.
“Did the others leave yet?” I ask Nathan when we get on the highway.
My mom, sisters, and Gerald said they were heading to the cabin after work today, but I’ve been too busy at the shop today to check my phone for updates.
“When I talked to Dad earlier, they’d just picked Zoe up from her place.”
As Zoe promised, she moved back home to Corio City and now lives in the suburbs, a few minutes from our childhood home. She made sure to get a house with plenty of space to do her art.
Nathan’s relationship with his dad has greatly improved over the years, and they’ve both made the effort to communicate and hang out more with each other.
It seems that me and Nathan getting together actually helped their relationship instead of ruining it.
Our being stepbrothers didn’t really affect our lives much. All the important people in our lives know of our situation and don’t really care that we’re stepbrothers. They only wish us happiness.
“You think we’ll get snowed in this year?” I ask with a smirk as I look out the window at the cloudless blue skies.
Ever since the abnormally cold and snowy winter five years ago, the weather has returned to the mild weather we usually get around the holidays.
Nathan smirks and glances at me. “It’s not likely, but I’m more than happy to stage a snow in with you any day.”
I laugh and thread our fingers together on the center console. “This week is for family, but maybe next weekend.”
“Where are the others?” I ask a couple hours later when we pull up to a familiar cabin. “I don’t see any cars here.”
“Maybe they went to the store?” he answers as he turns off the car.
“That’s strange. They usually pick up stuff on their way here. They should have gotten here before us,” I mutter, but Nathan doesn’t probably doesn’t hear since he doesn’t say anything.
“You can head inside first. I’ll grab our bags,” he says and opens the trunk.
I don’t question him and walk up to the front door. Mom sent us the code in the group chat earlier this morning, so I find it and unlock the door.
It’s quiet and dark inside, so the others must be out. I turn on the light and am confused to see flower petals scattered on the floor in the hallway. At first, I think someone must have accidentally dropped the petals here, but then I realize the petals go down the entire hallway.
“Nathan, did they say they’re decorating differently this year?” I call over my shoulder and ask. When I don’t hear a reply, I turn around to find that Nathan’s not behind me. His car is still there, but the man himself has disappeared.
“Nathan?” I call into the cabin, wondering if, for some reason, he went through the back door.
I follow the flower petals down the hallway and find familiar decorative pillows lining each side of the wall.
“What the—isn’t that the pillow Zoe managed to snatch before I could?
And I’ve seen Ava walk away with that one before.
Wait, hold on…this one is mine. It’s the last one I adopted from Mom’s house. ”
I grab the red strawberry pillow to press it against my nose, and yep, it’s definitely mine. Nathan’s spicy scent still lingers on it.
“What’s it doing here?” I mutter to myself and continue following the rose petals to turn into the living.
When I turn on the light, I’m met with more pillows scattered all around the place. There must be dozens of pillows of all shapes and sizes. And right in the middle of the room are four large pillows with the words ‘Will you marry me?’ and Nathan down on one knee right beside them.
“Nathan, what is all this?” I ask, mostly because I can’t believe my eyes right now.
I walk up to him, and he takes my hand.
“Baby, you’ve captivated me since the day I met you.
You saw the real me and liked the person you saw, when I couldn’t even remember who I was because I was trying so hard to fit in.
You forgave me when I made the biggest mistake of my life and let my ex-friends talk about you behind your back.
And you’ve made every single day the happiest day of my life since we got together five years ago. ”
My eyes are blurry behind the tears that sprang up. My heart is just about to jump out of my chest when I see Nathan pull out a ring box from his pants pocket and open it to reveal a gold band.
“Eli Madison, I want to call you my husband, because you are my everything. You know how possessive I can get, so I want you to be mine in every way. So will you marry me?”
“Yes, fuck, yes!” I shout, pulling him up for a searing kiss. He laughs and kisses me back, and I taste happiness and thousands more moments like this in our future.
“I told you that you’re stuck with me for life,” I murmur, pressing my forehead to his.
“It’s you and me, baby,” Nathan replies.
“And us!” Zoe’s voice sounds from behind me.
I jolt and turn around to see our entire family standing there. Zoe is pointing a camera at us, probably recording. Mom, Gerald, and Ava are holding confetti poppers and pull the trigger to throw an explosion of rainbows in our direction.
“I can’t believe our baby brother is the first of us to get married,” Ava comments with a smile.
“Well, we knew it wasn’t going to be you. You don’t even date,” Zoe shoots back, and Ava wrinkles her nose.
“Oh, congratulations, honey,” Mom coos and gives us the biggest hugs. “I’m so happy for you.” She turns my way. “And did I hear you say you’re the one who took my strawberry pillow? I hid it away for a reason.”
“What? What pillow? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mom,” I say. I’d dropped the pillow when I kissed Nathan, so I use my foot to push it out of my mom’s view. I’m totally taking it home with me.
“Congrats, son.” Gerald came over for hugs next. He lingers in the hug with Nathan. “You two are perfect for each other. Your mom would have loved him, you know.”
I catch Nathan’s eye and see they’re shining with unshed tears. “Yeah, she would have, because he’s truly amazing.”
I’m blushing because I like the idea of Nathan’s mom liking me. He’s told me more of her stories over the years, and she sounds like a really amazing person. It’s no wonder Nathan turned out just as amazing.
“All right, we need to get a group picture!” Zoe calls and shoves us into position before going to grab the tripod for the camera.
Nathan and I are in the middle, with our family surrounding us. He holds my hand and flashes me the brightest smile.
“Everyone, face the camera now!” Zoe calls, but I’m not listening. I only see the man who fills every single part of me with more love than I ever thought possible.
Zoe counts down from three. I lean into Nathan for a kiss just as the sound of the camera shutter goes off, our family’s laughter echoing in our ears.
Life is nowhere near perfect, but with the man I love and a family I can’t live without by my side, I can honestly say I’m luckier than a lottery winner. Because my life is rich in all the ways that matter.